Business

ORLANDO, Fla. — Trucking fleets are likely to shuffle down a familiar path of slow, steady improvement in overall economic conditions, general freight levels and equipment trends next year, according to three industry experts who spoke on a panel last week at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here.

A proposed rule eliminating the requirement that interstate truck drivers submit vehicle inspection reports even though the driver has found no vehicle defects or deficiencies could lead to “catastrophic crashes,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in written comments to federal regulators.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.— Bulldog Hiway Express CEO Philip Byrd Sr. started his business career in lumber, the industry in which his father and grandfather worked.

DENVER — Felipe Calderon, the former president of Mexico, said his country is poised to become the centerpiece of an economic revival in North America as new supplies of cheap energy fuel a boon in manufacturing.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Federal officials said they are working a new design for the public website of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program to make it clearer what carriers’ scores mean and are still reviewing the best way to incorporate crash accountability into the safety program.

WASHINGTON — Attorneys for Daimler Trucks North America and Volvo Group last week asked a federal appeals court to throw out an Environmental Protection Agency rule that allowed Navistar Inc. to pay penalties to market engines that failed to meet 2010 federal emissions standards.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed legislation authorizing dredging and other improvements at ports to accommodate massive cargo ships that are expected to come through a widened Panama Canal.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Weary of another year of political gridlock, trucking industry leaders meeting here vowed to make more critical assessments before offering support to lawmakers and to take a more cohesive message directly to the public.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Changes to the federal hours-of-service rule topped the 2013 survey of critical issues facing the North American trucking industry, the American Transportation Research Institute reported.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Further collaboration among trucking industry suppliers and technology vendors took center stage in the exhibit hall at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here.